From pilfered popsicles to stolen sandwiches, for years, Josiah's has been a target for theft. Despite sustained efforts on the part of management to fix the problem, Jo's continues to struggle to combat shoplifting.
Two new professional managers were hired this year in order to oversee operations at Jo's as well as other Brown dining facilities.
Jackie Henry '06, the student general manager, said she has noticed improvements as a result of the added staff. "There are more people that students can go to if they notice someone stealing," she said, but despite an increased professional management presence, theft at Jo's continues to be a problem.
Jo's perennially suffers a greater theft problem than other Brown dining facilities like The Gate or the Ivy Room. Henry believes that the primary cause of the disparity is simply that Jo's is the most popular of Brown's retail dining units, and thus the most crowded, making smuggling food easier.
"The problem is bad enough that it affects the morale of many of my staff," said Ann Lawrence, associate director of dining services.
In an e-mail to The Herald, Lawrence explained that it is difficult to control theft at Jo's because the employees are students and many of them are not comfortable confronting their peers. "Tackling theft at Jo's is a perennial challenge and we continually try to empower our employees to reprimand customers who attempt to steal," she wrote. "It frustrates me that they are put in the position of having to do so in the first place," she added.
Lawrence suggested that the higher theft rates at Jo's can also be attributed to differences in the arrangement of the space. "The openness enables crowds to gather, and crowds make it easier for individuals to conceal hidden goods or to eat without paying," she said.
Jo's hours, too, are different from other dining locations, contributing to the problem. It is open longer and later than the Ivy Room, for instance, and staying open late nights and weekends increases the potential for theft because there are more intoxicated students and students out looking to make trouble, Henry said. "Alcohol has definitely been a problem," she said.
Because theft often goes unreported, it is impossible to measure exactly how severely Jo's has been hurt financially.
Jo's objective is to break even, not to make a profit. But "since we have to pay vendors for all the food that goes out of Josiah's, we have to make up for the losses (from theft) by charging higher prices to the honest customers who pay for what they take," Lawrence explained. "Students may think they are stealing from Brown or from dining services, but in a sense, they are really stealing from their peers," she added.
"The strangest thing for me is that many of the students who steal from our dining operations would never think of stealing from a store or leaving a restaurant without paying for their food. They tell me so, and I can see it on their faces," Lawrence said.
